DIGITIZING AND USING SOUND IN FAMILY HISTORY

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ABSTRACT: Sound (and pictures) make family history come alive and most of us have at least
some sound recordings about ourselves, our families, our ancestors, or our descendants, in analog
format, e.g. tape or phonograph recordings. These need to be converted to digital format to preserve,
copy, and edit them. This class will discuss types of digital audio files and how to digitize, record,
and edit old analog audio items. We will also discuss other ways sound can be used in family history
such as background music for family history videos and slideshows. The notes for this class and
related articles, all with active Internet links, are posted on my website
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .

Tips: (1) To put an icon on your desktop for the URL
for these notes, or any webpage, just drag the icon in front of the
address in your browser to your desktop. (2) To open a
link while keeping your place in the original page, hold down the
Control key while clicking the link, so it opens in a new tab.

The problem for today: identifying family history audio items, digitizing, recording, sharing, and transcribing the files.

Setting up connections-- this is the hardest part of the whole process

Desktop computers -- sound card is usually in back with
color-coded jacks

Orange = Mike in

Green = Speakers/Earphones out

Blue = Line in

Connect the cable from playback device output to the computer sound card, usually the mike input

Laptop computers -- usually a single jack for mike and earphones or
speakers (3- or 4-contact jack such as on a smartphone) or can use
USB input

Use earphone output on playback device, if there is one, since signal may be too strong from speaker
output into mike input, and always set record volume way down at start, so you don't burn something out
with too loud a signal; if needed, there are inexpensive attenuating cables to decrease signal strength

After connecting hardware click on Transport > Rescan Audio Devices so AUDACITY checks the connection setup; sometimes you have to close and open AUDACITY again so it recognizes the hardware

Set AUDACITY to mono or stereo recording, as needed

Start playback device and click Start Monitoring to be able to see the level of input; set input volume so it
doesn't clip the loudest peaks or you will have distortion

To be able to hear while recording try clicking Transport > Play Through

AUDACITY has record and playback start and stop buttons like a tape
recorder and also has a timer, if you want to to start and/or stop automatically

Before playing cassette or reel-to-reel tapes, do a fast forward all the way to the end and then rewind; this relieves
the stresses and helps avoid magnetic "bleed though"

When everything is set correctly, click the AUDACITY Record button, then the play button on playback device; monitor the
recording to be sure you are getting what you want; you can edit out or add gaps and leaders later, so don't worry about extra spaces, etc., when recording

AUDACITY also can record directly from a mike for live recordings

EDITING, SAVING, AND EXPORTING WITH AUDACITY

AUDACITY has good editing features to delete, shorten, change
volume, copy, move sections, splice in sections, fade in or out, etc. -- See more details in AUDACITY Manual and in Don's Freeware Corner notes on AUDACITY

To include a label track to mark sections go to Tracks > Add Label At Selection; labels can later be used when exporting to split the file at these points with the labels as titles

Saving the Project vs Exporting in AUDACITY

Saving the Project saves everything, including all edits, so you can continue later or reverse
any of the edits all the way back to the beginning -- it gives an .aup file with a folder of same name containing the data

Exporting the file means saving it so it is playable on other devices and programs and gives an mp3 or wav file, etc.

Best commercial voice recognition software is DRAGON
NATURALLY SPEAKING ; comes in several versions, can usually
get it on sale, but even it is not completely accurate

Transcribing by "Echoing" -- you listen with headphones and repeat
what you hear to record it in speech recognition software trained to recognizes your voice -- since computer only hears your voice, it
can be "trained" better to recognize the way you talk

Requires audio to be in digital wav or mp3 format and played on
your computer, so you listen with speakers or earphones and type
what you hear; program includes player and text editor; does NOT
automatically transcribe the audio

Can use any text editor, e.g. Libre Office or Word, with the LISTEN N WRITE audio buttons; then can use a spell checker

You control audio playback with function keys, so you keep your
hands on the keyboard and don't have to use the mouse

F5 starts and stops audio and can be set to pause a
specified time interval, e.g. 4 seconds, to allow you to type what
you have heard

F6 skips backward a specified time interval you set, e.g.
3 seconds

F7 skips forward a specified time interval you set, e.g. 3
seconds

MISCELLANEOUS

Can also use EVERNOTE to record audio with a smartphone or table; or use microphone on a computer -- avoids the connection problems, but gives an .amr file that must be converted to be played elsewhere